Finally back after the hurricane

We had no power for 13 days.
No telephone for 17 days.
No TV or Internet for 18 days.

But the house is standing, nothing was flooded and only a few trees came tumbling down. We had it so much better than thousands in the area.  Sayonara Sandy. What starts with "B" rhymes with Sea Watch?

Expect more blogs from us soon.  In the meantime, check out this back of the napkin description of our methods in preparing Quick Takes Pro and gazillions of other things we produce in a week.  This was a question asked by a subscriber and answered in the newsletter Monday morning.

Question - With your unrelenting press of numerous deadlines I know you have to have a systematic way of monitoring all thing macro to micro leading you to eventual security selection. Would you share how you organize your routine and what resources you use to efficiently sort through the enormous quantity of data to get to the promising opportunities?

Answer- You are right about the unrelenting deadlines. My own method is steeped in madness but a lot of it stems from staying plugged into the market all the time.  We follow which sectors are leading and lagging each day. We look at which sectors and stocks are volume leaders. News plays a role but as a reason to check something out, not trade. That decision is based on the charts alone.

Sometimes, there is no theme and you can tell on days when we just have very little to say in the comments section. Unlike traders, journalists (and advisors) have to have an opinion every day. Have your clients given you the "we do not pay you to be in cash" speech? Editors certainly will not keep a columnist on who writes, "Nothing to say to today" or "Same as yesterday."

We plow into various lists of stocks with blunt force, not the precision cut of a rigid system. Markets change and that means systems have to change - all the time. We have not time to maintain them under such fluid conditions so it is better to stick to nuts and bolts, human nature based analysis as humans do not change. We won't find that monster winner but if we happen to stumble on it at least we'll ride it for a good chunk of change.